


The button factory

by WanderingBandurria



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Capitalism, Existential Crisis, Ficlet, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Mystery, Open Ending, finding your way back home, industralization, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27955949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingBandurria/pseuds/WanderingBandurria
Summary: Sirius Black decided to leave his old life behind. Without knowing what else to do, he embarks with his best friend in what seems like a pointless quest to find the boy that stole his heart when he was just a teenager.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	The button factory

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo there! So - this is me, bringing my works from tumblr to AO3 to have them all in one place for whenever I want to read them.   
> I wrote this based on an amazing dream that someone prompted me on tumblr. This idea has been in my head since then.   
> As usual, LikeABellThroughTheNight, you are the light in my darkness. Your beta skills save me every time and I love you without meassurement. This is all well known and general information. You deserve the world.  
> I hope you guys like this small universe I created for Sirius Black to live in!

Sirius plays with the golden and black button once again, looking at it idly.

“You know the factory closed years ago, right?” James tells him for the hundredth time. He keeps his eyes on the road, frowning in concentration. “There’s probably one-tenth of the people that used to live here still in town. And I doubt any of them is under sixty.”

“I know,” Sirius answers for the hundredth time too. “It’s still the only clue that I have, and so, it’s where I’m starting,” he says, as he looks out of the window to the yellowing meadows. The area is still very unimpressive, as it was over twelve years ago when he happened to visit with his family, as his parents tried to buy the nearby factory to turn it into god-knows-what-plague to the world.

Even though his parents had brought him along under the pretence of teaching him about the family business, he was left out of all the negotiations. So, in the week they stayed there, Sirius used all his free time to wander around the almost empty town, where he ended up meeting a boy - a boy with brown eyes and brown hair with whom he played the game of ‘not using names’ (god damn it, stupid past Sirius who proposed it because he didn’t want to be treated as the heir of one of the evilest families in the UK). A boy with scars on his arms, who laughed at Sirius’ jokes and pushed their shoulders together, who showed him around the town, took him for walks in the nearby forest and gave Sirius his first kiss. 

A boy who lost a button under Sirius’ clumsy hands the day before Sirius’ parents decided that the negotiations were a lost cause and that they should leave immediately, giving Sirius no time to say goodbye.

Sirius looks again out of the window to the golden fields and abandoned sheds. The tree leaves look grey with all the dust on them, and a raven with almost purple feathers looks straight back at him, making him feel spied on. 

Sirius looks back down at the button, still shiny on its golden border.

“Alright then,” James says quietly then, as he signals to turn onto the main street, on which the asphalt is completely cracked. “I still think this is weird but hella romantic, Padfoot. I’m just wary about you not keeping your hopes in check,” he says, as he switches on the blinkers to park the car by an old pharmacy that makes Sirius’ stomach jolt at the memories. “Still - fingers crossed,” James says as he pulls up the hand brake and turns to him, showing the index and middle finger of his left hand intertwined. “You ready for this, mate?”

Sirius swallows and nods, hoping his eyes convey how grateful he is to James for accompanying him on this probably pointless quest. He breathes in once, deeply, and putting the button inside his jacket pocket, steps out of the car, being welcomed by the hot, dusty breeze of summer.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! I really love this universe and I would love to come back at it sometime, maybe write a bit from a magical realism perspective. How would you guys make things go for Sirius? Do you think he would find Remus or not? And how would that happen? How many tests would he have to go through before finding again this boy that he never really knew? Hit me with a comment, or you can come to [Tumblr](wanderingbandurria.tumblr.com) to yell at me or give me more ideas to write about! I might also be persuaded to continue one of these small universes I created because I'm certainly easy to persuade *sighs*.


End file.
